Dual Displays - why?

How many photographers out there are using dual displays. I've never used a dual display set-up and can't see the attraction compared to say a large 30" Cinema Display - however - those using them seem to swear by the benefits - could anyone out there persuade me it would be a good idea?

Because you can get a secondary display (or 2, or 3) for a fraction of the cost of the ACD 30", and more 'width'. I kind of like being able to drag an image or what have you off to the side - I get an eerie satisfaction watching it cross screens too.

The dual screens help me stay organized. I am a visual person and if I cant see most of the items that I am using in one project than I get a little frustrated. Seems like there are more options with dual screens too.

You can use FCP on one screen and Live Type or Motion on another.
If you have the horse power.

I never thought much of dual displays, or what I would ever use them for until I hooked my 20" ACD up as secondary monitor for my new 24" iMac. At first, I thought jeez, I have this huge screen now, did I just waste $20 bucks on an adapter? Then, I started to realize the possibilities, and frankly, I'm hooked!

Three things that I could no longer do with just "one" screen:

1. Run Aperture - it's designed for this, and it rocks having palettes on one screen, photo on other, or multiple photo's, whatever.. it's great!
2. Final Cut - LOVE having my Canvas on the 20" as a full screen viewer, and having SO much room to play with the other windows and stuff.
3. Fusion - Love running my work VM in full screen mode on the 2nd display. It pretty much feels like having two computers on my desk.

There are a lot more uses, but for me, I could no longer live without dual displays for just those 3!

I have a 30" and I have to tell you I thought about two 20"s or 23"s. Point is I was looking at space and such and found that had I not been able to deal with the resolution of the 30" I would have gotten two 23"s. It allows for things to be a bit bigger and still get that real estate you'd get with a 30". I don't know if that makes sense but it does to me.
Yes, Aperture is nice in dual screen but it didn't deter me from buying one 30.

How many photographers out there are using dual displays. I've never used a dual display set-up and can't see the attraction compared to say a large 30" Cinema Display - however - those using them seem to swear by the benefits - could anyone out there persuade me it would be a good idea?

Click to expand...

You really need to try it. Once you do you will laugh at yourself for even asking...

How many photographers out there are using dual displays. I've never used a dual display set-up and can't see the attraction compared to say a large 30" Cinema Display - however - those using them seem to swear by the benefits - could anyone out there persuade me it would be a good idea?

Click to expand...

If you are editing video is is very nice, no almost required to have a TV set as a second display, not a computer monitor but a "real TV" so you can see what the show is going to look like.

I head a story about Neil Yong. When doing studio work he has the habit of making a tape and taking it outside to listen in his pickup truck. He has a point, that is how is fans will hear his music. This should be applied by everyone who makes content of any type.

Just last night I loaded up a digital picture frame for my parents for Chistmas and set it up to look. Gosh was it horrible, the contrast, color, black point was so far off on that cheap LCD screen. But the images all looked good on my calibrated computer LCD. So I had to go back into Photoshop and re-do 102 images to make them look horrible on my good monitor. And man, they did look bad,

So, bottom line, you need a display device that mimics you final delivery device. I think this is the only reason to prefer two screen to one 30" screen

When I post-process my images on my 30" ACD I then go and fire up my 20" G5 iMac to view them on there, as there is a significant difference, and then I make necessary adjustments. I also review them on the 23" ACD, too, but usually they look pretty much the same on that monitor as on the 30" one.

How many photographers out there are using dual displays. I've never used a dual display set-up and can't see the attraction compared to say a large 30" Cinema Display - however - those using them seem to swear by the benefits - could anyone out there persuade me it would be a good idea?

I never thought much of dual displays, or what I would ever use them for until I hooked my 20" ACD up as secondary monitor for my new 24" iMac. At first, I thought jeez, I have this huge screen now, did I just waste $20 bucks on an adapter? Then, I started to realize the possibilities, and frankly, I'm hooked!

Three things that I could no longer do with just "one" screen:

1. Run Aperture - it's designed for this, and it rocks having palettes on one screen, photo on other, or multiple photo's, whatever.. it's great!
2. Final Cut - LOVE having my Canvas on the 20" as a full screen viewer, and having SO much room to play with the other windows and stuff.
3. Fusion - Love running my work VM in full screen mode on the 2nd display. It pretty much feels like having two computers on my desk.

There are a lot more uses, but for me, I could no longer live without dual displays for just those 3!

Click to expand...

This is the second reason. If you do more than just shoot stills, you might find yourself needing a second display. Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer, Aperture, and Adobe Premier were meant to live on two displays and make it easier for you to get at the things you need.

My main machine is a MacBook Pro 17", so I have limited screen real estate by default. I have been toying with 2 screens, and a week ago, I rented a 23" ACD, and am totally hooked on 2 screens.

In addition to the dual screen optimization with Aperture and Photoshop, I have found that having a screen totally devoted to the photo I am working on is liberating and allows me to totally focus on the work I need to do.

But, I use a Wacom tablet, and have it devoted to the second screen only, so the resolution and accuracy is everything I hoped it would be.

I use two 30" ACD's for photography. I often run Nikon Capture on one for RAW editing, and Photoshop PS3 on the other for layers all the other little things NC NX won't do as well. Or Adobe Bridge on one monitor and Photoshop on the other. Also nice for running Windows and OSX full screen on either. For other work flow, like writing papers, it's nice to have lots of room for all the research data to be spread out and still have room to write in Word without having to sort out all windows.

No question that 2 large monitors is a luxury - you can certainly get by with one monitor just fine - it's just really, really nice. I don't use both all the time, but it sure is convenient when I do.

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